Nokia engineer hacks Windows 8 for free games

A Nokia engineer has hacked Microsoft Windows 8 to obtain free games, then published instructions on how to do it on the internet.

Justin Angel published instructions on how to exploit security flaws in the Windows 8 code on his personal website, which has since been taken (or forced) offline.

As reported by VentureBeat, Angel displayed five different ways to hack into Windows 8 with a view to getting free games or securing in-game advantages.

In one instance he granted himself a million free gold in the Soulcraft THD game, which would cost you $1,000 to obtain through regular means. Another of Angel’s examples involved hacking Meteor Madness’s free trial version to unlock the full game – you’d usually have to splash out $1.50 for the privilege.

Angel also managed to remove the advertising from Microsoft’s very own Minesweeper game with a simple data file edit.

So, has this professional engineer workings for one of Microsoft’s key partners gone rogue? Not quite – at least not according to him.

Angel insists that he wants developers to get paid for their work, and that he’s a big fan of all the games he hacked. He claims to have laid the inner workings of Windows 8 bare in order to demonstrate that “the majority of ways games and apps developers would make money aren’t secure by default on Windows 8.”

So if Nokia has such a special relationship with Microsoft, why not contact the software giant directly with the issues? According to Angel, Nokia has “seen a myriad of issues and offered potential fixes to them all.”

He believes that “any mildly competent developer can productize these security attack vectors into shipping products. If Microsoft doesn’t take it upon itself to fix these security attack vectors it’s not because it couldn’t, it’s because it chooses not to.”

Ouch.

What do you think? Was Justin Angel right to expose these Windows 8 failings, or has he just opened the door for more hacking? Let us know in the comments box below, or through our Twitter and Facebook feeds.More Games News >